Cigar Review – La Flor Dominicana Double Ligero 660

This past weekend I went up to Overlook Mountain in Woodstock, NY with Justin, a coworker of mine here at BestCigarPrices.com. The plan was to hike up the mountain and smoke a cigar at the top, which seemed manageable at the time since I had never been up there. For my cigar, I chose a La Flor Dominicana Double Ligero 660. Having read the “Eat before you smoke” warning on the company’s website, I was expecting the smoke to be the challenging part of the hike, rather than the hike itself.

Man, I was wrong—the hike was the real challenge, and I work out on a pretty regular basis. We stopped five or six times on the way up the steep 2.5-mile climb, and once we were at the top, there was only one thing left to do; light up.

The construction at the head of the cigar was perfect, and it took very little effort to get a nice, straight cut without damaging the cap. The wrapper was a nice leathery, brownish hue with almost no large veins, and the color was nicely marbled indicating that it was naturally cured and not dyed. This little stogie took quite some effort to light due to the 60 ring gauge, but it was worth it. The pre-light draw and the first few puffs were pure chocolate, which was surprising considering how strong this smoke is supposed to be. Bear in mind, however, that I can handle my nicotine, having smoked the all-ligero Oliveros King Havano Black Knight Mace just two days earlier with little difficulty.

The notes of coffee became a little more apparent a few puffs in and the chocolate lingered. The rich flavor of nuts faded in and out during the first third. I could control the intensity of this smoke by puffing it more frequently, but only up to a point. There is a fine line here; don’t go crazy on this thing or it will kick your ass.

I kept puffing away, walking around on the top of Overlook Mountain and eventually climbing up the rickety looking old fire tower to catch the view. Around the top of the tower I started noticing a caramel note that made its way into the smoke, along with more nuttiness. As I smoked the 660 down towards the nub, it started getting a boozy taste that I’d associate with rum; sweet and powerful on the roof of the mouth.

Everything I read about this little stogie suggested that it would punch me straight in the face, but I smoked it down to such a small nub that I had trouble holding onto it and the smoke stayed cool and manageable. The burn line got a little sketchy a couple of times due to the large ring gauge but was very easily corrected with a single torch lighter. I recommend this smoke to the intermediate smoker, with the caveat that you should take your time with it just as I did. Nobody likes getting nicotine sick, and the cigar definitely had that kind of potential. But if you’re nice to this stout little stogie, it will most certainly be nice to you.

There’s a feeling of satisfaction that you get from climbing up a mountain, I can only call it triumphant. I got a similar feeling from conquering the mighty La Flor Dominicana Double Ligero 660. I want to smoke this in a few other sizes before I commit to a box, but I could absolutely see this becoming one of my favorite stogies.